Brief Hands-On Report--Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update

Late yesterday, Apple released Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update (Build 7M34) for clients and Mac OS X 10.3.x Server. It is available via the Software Update preference pane and as a standalone updater, the delta update (from 10.3.4) is here and the combo update (from 10.3.x) is here.

The Read Me file for the Software Update version states:

The 10.3.5 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users.

Key enhancements include:

• improved support for NTFS formatted volumes
  
• improves reliability for user logins and mounting of home directories in a networked environment
  
• updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
  
• improved Bluetooth compatibility for Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse and Bluetooth phones
  
• additional FireWire and USB device compatibility
  
• improved font management
  
• updated Mail and Image Capture applications
  
• improved compatibility for third party applications
  
• previous standalone security updates
  

We downloaded 10.3.5 via the Software Update preference pane and installed it on several G4 Cubes, Power Mac G5s, iBooks and PowerBooks running Mac OS X 10.3.4.

We noticed that the size of the file for G4 Cubes and Power Mac G5s was 43 MB but the file size for iBooks and PowerBooks was 22.9 MB. We found this curious but Apple states:

The sizes of software updates can vary for computers running Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later. This is a feature of Software Update, which automatically detects the best update for your computer.

So, no worries. The standalone delta file is 44 MB and the combo file is 88 MB.

We also noted that if we ran the 10.3.5 updater first, then the Security Update 2005-08-09 would not install. This is because it is included in the 10.3.5 Update as confirmed below. Two additional security updates are included in Mac OS X 10.3.5:

Safari: Fixes CAN-2004-0743

Impact: In a special situation, navigation using the forward/backward buttons can re-send form data to a GET url.

Description: This is for a situation where a web form is sent to a server using a POST method which issues an HTTP redirect to a GET method url. Using the forward/backward buttons will cause Safari to re-POST the form data to the GET url. Safari has been modified so that in this situation forward/backward navigation will result in only a GET method.

and

TCP/IP Networking: Fixes CAN-2004-0744

Impact: Maliciously crafted IP fragments can use too many system resources preventing normal network operation.

Description: The "Rose Attack" describes a specially constructed sequence of IP fragments designed to consume system resources. The TCP/IP implementation has been modified to limit the resources consumed and prevents this denial of service attack.

The 10.3.5 Update includes all previous security updates as well:

All installations went perfectly and so far we've not found any issues with our computers or software. But we are still testing and will post any problems that we find. [Contributions by Dana Baggett]